Does knowledge sharing pay? A multinational subsidiary perspective on knowledge outflows

Empirical studies on the impact of knowledge management on the performance of MNC subsidiaries remain elusive to date. This study examines the effect of knowledge management tools on absorptive capacity and firm performance with unique data from subsidiary units in a large German MNC – HeidelbergCement. The findings suggest that knowledge management tools unfold their performance impact through their significant influence on absorptive capacity and knowledge inflows. The key contributions to the current literature on knowledge flows in the MNC include an empirically corroborated link between deployments of knowledge management tools and their impact on the subsidiary employee’s ability and motivation to learn from internal knowledge flows in the MNC as well as their impact on subsidiary business performance

The Development of Network Relations of MNC Subsidiaries: How Internal MNC and External (Local) Relations Evolve

Managing relations is a complex task for internationalizing firms and their subsidiaries: MNC subsidiaries are not only part of the MNC network but they also develop relations with network actors in their local environment.This paper investigates conceptually how MNC subsidiaries established through generic expansion build relations within the MNC and with external market and non-market actors as they evolve through stages of start-up, growth and maturity.The paper develops propositions, grounded in institutional theory, resource dependency theory and network approaches, on the changing strength and importance of a subsidiary's relations depending on its dependence or interdependence in these relations, with five groups of actors (MNC headquarters, other subsidiaries within the MNC, local business actors, local government and non-government organizations).The paper ends with drawing directions for future work that will enhance understanding of the dynamics of relationship management in MNC subsidiaries.multinational companies;MNC management;HQ-subsidiary relations;networks;institutional theory

Entrepreneurship and performance around MNC affiliates

The aim of this study is the analysis of the influence of a multinational company (MNC) on its local suppliers network within the host territory. We have particularly focused on how the MNC influences the performance of supplier as well as non-supplier local companies. Our study has shown the how the existence of knowledge transfer influences productivity through the productive linkage established with local suppliers and their hiring of MNC former managers. Direct local suppliers have been shown to experience higher productivity than do local suppliers from lower levels of the supply chain. Similarly, local suppliers hiring MNC former managers have shown higher productivity than those who have hired only local managers. In addition, no significant differences in productivity have been found between strategic and non-strategic suppliers

The MNC as a Knowledge Structure The Roles of Knowledge Sources and Organizational Instruments in MNC Knowledge Management

Recent research on the differentiated MNC has concerned knowledge flows between MNC units. While linking up with this literature, we extend in two directions. First, we argue that conceptualizing the MNC as a knowledge structure furthers the understanding of intra-MNC knowledge flows. Thus, we see MNC knowledge elements as being structured along such dimensions as their type and degree of complementarity to other knowledge elements, and their sources, for example, whether they are mainly developed from external or internal knowledge sources. These dimensions matter in terms of knowledge flows, because they influence the costs and benefits of knowledge transfer and, hence, the actual level of knowledge transferred. Second, based on this conceptualization, we argue that MNC management can influence the development, characteristics and transfer of knowledge through choices regarding organizational instruments (control, motivation and context). We test six hypotheses derived from these arguments against a unique dataset on subsidiary knowledge development. The dataset includes information on organizational instruments, sources of subsidiary knowledge, and the extent of knowledge transfer to other MNC units. It covers more than 2,000 subsidiaries located in seven different European countries.Knowledge structure, complementarity, knowledge transfer, the MNC

The Multinational Corporation and the Global Sourcing of Knowledge: Remodeling Absorptive Capacity

We build on extant theory of the MNC, MNC subsidiaries, absorptive capacity and Penrose's concept of 'productive opportunity' to develop a framework on the MNC and absorptive capacity (AC) that allows us to explore the role of subsidiaries in the global sourcing of knowledge. We develop and test hypotheses using primary questionnaire-collected data. Our results support the idea that subsidiaries' realized AC can be improved by the realized and potential AC of the MNC group and the subsidiary and in turn may improve the performance of the subsidiaries and the group as a whole.Multinational Corporation, absorptive capacity, subsidiaries, knowledge

Land reform on multinational corporate plantations in the Philippines : case studies of the application of the comprehensive agrarian reform programme (1988) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies, Massey University

This thesis examines the implications of a recent agrarian reform programme in the Philippines for multinational corporate (MNC) plantations. Its central purpose is to assess and explain the land tenure consequences of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme as it applied to MNC plantations. This entails an examination of the economic and political factors underlying both the passing of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme in 1988 and its subsequent implementation on plantations. Though there is no coherent theory of land reform as it applies to MNC plantations two bodies of literature are very relevant: the political economy of land reform and the political economy of MNC expropriation in developing countries. These were drawn upon to provide general hypotheses that are tested in this study. These are that the relationship between the political and landowning elites of developing countries and the relationship between the political elites and the transnational economy are critical determinants of the political economy of land reform on MNC plantations. More specifically, in the context of the Philippine political economy, it is hypothesized that the close ties between the political and landowning elites, and their shared interests with, and ties to, MNCs, coupled with the economy's dependence on the corporations, has resulted in the agrarian reform programme bringing about no substantial change in MNC land tenure relations. In order to test these hypotheses, four multinational plantations in the Philippines that had been subject to land transfer under the agrarian reform programme were used as case studies. These were two pineapple plantations operated by subsidiaries of American-owned MNCs, Del Monte International and Castle and Cook International, and two oil palm plantations, one owned by an Indonesian corporation, Raja Garuda Mas, and the other by a Singaporean company, Keck Seng Private Ltd. It is found that the agrarian reform programme has not brought about any substantial change in MNC land tenure or production relations. This is in part attributed to the predominance of landed and agribusiness interests in the Philippines political economy, coupled with their shared interests with, and ties to, the MNCs. But it is also found that the MNCs, through their indirect lobby efforts, were able to influence decisively the consequences of the programme for their plantations. Finally, the MNCs' control over technology and markets, coupled with the substantial contribution of their plantations to employment and export earnings, ultimately constrained the degree of government intervention in their land tenure arrangements

Entrepreneurship and performance around MNC affiliates.

The aim of this study is the analysis of the influence of a multinational company (MNC) on its local suppliers network within the host territory. We have particularly focused on how the MNC influences the performance of supplier as well as non-supplier local companies. Our study has shown the how the existence of knowledge transfer influences productivity through the productive linkage established with local suppliers and their hiring of MNC former managers. Direct local suppliers have been shown to experience higher productivity than do local suppliers from lower levels of the supply chain. Similarly, local suppliers hiring MNC former managers have shown higher productivity than those who have hired only local managers. In addition, no significant differences in productivity have been found between strategic and non-strategic suppliers.

Entrepreneurship and performance around MNC affiliates

The aim of this study is the analysis of the influence of a multinational company (MNC) on its local supplier’s network within the host territory. We have particularly focused on how the MNC influences the performance of supplier as well as non-supplier local companies. Our study has shown the how the existence of knowledge transfer influences productivity through the productive linkage established with local suppliers and their hiring of MNC former managers. Direct local suppliers have been shown to experience higher productivity than do local suppliers from lower levels of the supply chain. Similarly, local suppliers hiring MNC former managers have shown higher productivity than those who have hired only local managers. In addition, no significant differences in productivity have been found between strategic and non-strategic suppliers.

Multinational Firms, FDI Flows and Imperfect Capital Markets

This paper examines how costly financial contracting and weak investor protection influence the cross-border operational, financing and investment decisions of firms. We develop a model in which product developers have a comparative advantage in monitoring the deployment of their technology abroad. The paper demonstrates that when firms want to exploit technologies abroad, multinational firm (MNC) activity and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows arise endogenously when monitoring is nonverifiable and financial frictions exist. The mechanism generating MNC activity is not the risk of technological expropriation by local partners but the demands of external funders who require MNC participation to ensure value maximization by local entrepreneurs. The model demonstrates that weak investor protections limit the scale of multinational firm activity, increase the reliance on FDI flows and alter the decision to deploy technology through FDI as opposed to arm's length licensing. Several distinctive predictions for the impact of weak investor protection on MNC activity and FDI flows are tested and confirmed using firm-level data.